RIPTIDE AQUACULTURE 5th Year Anniversary Tax Madness LIVE SALE, GAMES, GIVEAWAYS, LIVESTREAMS

[tbrown]

How well does this work for you guys? I'm guessing you really like it to stock up in it
I've used a few different salts and still haven't found one to be loyal to. I used IO back in the day, but it's been years.

Instant Ocean seems to be just as good as some of the more expensive ones. I use Reef Crystals because they were on sale. Used to use IO because it was cheap and readily available. When I run out of Reef Crystals I'll be using Coralife Marine Salt Mix because I got it for $15 the other day.

 

[KatesReef13]

Instant Ocean seems to be just as good as some of the more expensive ones. I use Reef Crystals because they were on sale. Used to use IO because it was cheap and readily available. When I run out of Reef Crystals I'll be using Coralife Marine Salt Mix because I got it for $15 the other day.

I think I might end up doing something like this, the tank is definitely a black hole for cash lol. I started out this time around using Tropic Marin but it was so much more expensive so I've hopped around between Brightwell and Red Sea. Looks like Petco still has a decent deal so maybe it's a good time to try it.
Thanks for the info all!

 

[jkcoral]

How well does this work for you guys? I'm guessing you really like it to stock up in it
I've used a few different salts and still haven't found one to be loyal to. I used IO back in the day, but it's been years.

It works just fine and I’ve never seen a reason to switch. Like most things in the hobby these days, the salt mix products seem to be an arms race for marginal increases in improvements/benefits at exponential increases in cost lol.

It does mix a little “dirty” leaving some grime in your container over time, but it doesn’t seem to really matter (and you can have a filter sock over your mixing pump to stop it).

There’s a chart that pops up here on R2R or you could find it on Google comparing all of the popular salt brands side by side with their levels of calc/mag/alk etc. Reef crystals isn’t too shabby. For what it’s worth, some “big names” in the hobby use IO and IO Reef Crystals (like Jason Fox).

 

[KatesReef13]

It works just fine and I’ve never seen a reason to switch. Like most things in the hobby these days, the salt mix products seem to be an arms race for marginal increases in improvements/benefits at exponential increases in cost lol.

It does mix a little “dirty” leaving some grime in your container over time, but it doesn’t seem to really matter (and you can have a filter sock over your mixing pump to stop it).

There’s a chart that pops up here on R2R or you could find it on Google comparing all of the popular salt brands side by side with their levels of calc/mag/alk etc. Reef crystals isn’t too shabby. For what it’s worth, some “big names” in the hobby use IO and IO Reef Crystals (like Jason Fox).

I've definitely seen that, the most expensive stuff doesn't always get you that much better than the least expensive.

My mixing container is a 100 gallons and a pain in the butt to clean but every salt I've ever used has left something at the bottom. I started filtering it with a 5 micron filter hooked up to a pump that just runs all the time when it's not mixing. It helps, but I've just decided to deal with cleaning the mixing tank out when it gets bad.

And that's cool I didn't know they use it. Only one I've heard about was WWC and Brightwell.

 

[KatesReef13]

Oops double post :/

 

[Stang67]

How well does this work for you guys? I'm guessing you really like it to stock up in it
I've used a few different salts and still haven't found one to be loyal to. I used IO back in the day, but it's been years.

I started in the hobby about 3 yrs ago or so and that's all I have ever used. I switch between the 2 only when my levels get a bit high and I need to bring them down a bit. Which doesn't happen often. It's always available, relatively inexpensive compared to the other options, mixes up quickly, and hasn't ever given me a "bad batch". Is it s bit dirty yeah but that settles out and doesn't affect the tank that I can tell. I run a mixed reef. My thought is that if it's good enough for major aquariums, major farms and Andrew is good for me.

 

[Stang67]

Bonus 6
I do like these meaningful posts. It's nice to get others ideas and feedback on certain topics.
My question today is what was your very first coral / fish, and do you still have it today?

My first coral was a green mushroom My first fish were a pair of clowns (Bonnie and Clyde) and I still have all of them.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Bonus 6
I do like these meaningful posts. It's nice to get others ideas and feedback on certain topics.
My question today is what was your very first coral / fish, and do you still have it today?

My first coral was a green mushroom My first fish were a pair of clowns (Bonnie and Clyde) and I still have all of them.

My first clowns were/are Bonnie & Clyde!

 

[Stang67]

My first clowns were/are Bonnie & Clyde!

OMG cool.

 

[Stang67]

I also got a Springeri Damsel. Named it Samuel L Jackson bc he looked like such "a bad mfer". Still have him too.

 

[jkcoral]

Bonus 6
I do like these meaningful posts. It's nice to get others ideas and feedback on certain topics.
My question today is what was your very first coral / fish, and do you still have it today?

My first coral was a green mushroom My first fish were a pair of clowns (Bonnie and Clyde) and I still have all of them.

Some of my first memories of having any pets are from a tank that my father had when I was a child. I was maybe for or five years old at the time, and my dad had a tank of snowflake eels that were awesome. We had them for several years until we moved.

This was during the “primitive” age of reef keeping, and corals weren’t too common (besides various softies that were able to grow in home aquariums), so we never had any coral.

The first coral I had was a rock flower anemone that I found as a kid on a trip to the Keys. I found it in knee deep water and loved it so much. It was ugly as sin lol. Loved it so much that I drove home with it in a McDonalds cup and it joined my dads eels in the tank.

 

[Stang67]

Some of my first memories of having any pets are from a tank that my father had when I was a child. I was maybe for or five years old at the time, and my dad had a tank of snowflake eels that were awesome. We had them for several years until we moved.

This was during the “primitive” age of reef keeping, and corals weren’t too common (besides various softies that were able to grow in home aquariums), so we never had any coral.

The first coral I had was a rock flower anemone that I found as a kid on a trip to the Keys. I found it in knee deep water and loved it so much. It was ugly as sin lol. Loved it so much that I drove home with it in a McDonalds cup and it joined my dads eels in the tank.

What a cool story!!!

 

[tbrown]

Goal 6: Sitting in the waiting room at Urges Care! My son just got his first x-rays! Woohoo! You guys doing anything exciting today?

 

[Aqua62]

Goal 6: Sitting in the waiting room at Urges Care! My son just got his first x-rays! Woohoo! You guys doing anything exciting today?

Root canal earlier this morning.

 

[Utubereefer]

Goal 6: Sitting in the waiting room at Urges Care! My son just got his first x-rays! Woohoo! You guys doing anything exciting today?

Just signed the lease on a full size store!!!!!

 

[Aqua62]

Regarding the brief discussion on Instant Ocean salt, I started with IO in the purple box back in 1988, there weren’t many choices in mix then, a few years later when Reef Crystals started to come out I switched over to that since I was starting to keep a couple corals. I have been using RC continuously since then till even today, never tried another brand(why rattle cages when what you are using works pretty well). Never have noticed the issues with anything left at the bottom of the mix prior to use, I also have to say that I only let the salt mix for around an hour before use and never have I had any issues using it that quickly. I maintain a mixed reef and have for some time now with no issues.

Answering @Stang67 question, that was to many years ago to remember. Probably a couple Damsels as they were the most hardy fish used to help get the biological cycle going. I do have a caulastrea that was only 2 polyps that I bought around 1990, it has gone thru many generations of growth then trimming and selling at frag swaps or giving it to fellow hobbiests, it is still growing well today.

 

[Aqua62]

Goal 6: Sitting in the waiting room at Urges Care! My son just got his first x-rays! Woohoo! You guys doing anything exciting today?

Hope nothing major and that he will be better soon!

 

[Aqua62]

Just signed the lease on a full size store!!!!!

Congrats!!

 

[tbrown]

Hope nothing major and that he will be better soon!

Fracture in his arm. Not huge but still a break.

 

[SaltyShel]

Fracture in his arm. Not huge but still a break.

I hope he recovers fully and quickly!